Kathleen Mattis

Viola

Associate Principal

Kathleen Mattis began her career with the St. Louis Symphony at the age of 21. Her performances with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Raymond Leppard, and David Robertson have been heard over the NPR and BBC radio networks. An avid chamber musician, Mattis was a founding member of both the Amabile Piano Quartet and the Trio Cassatt, and has recorded chamber music works for the Vox and Laurel labels. She is currently recording a CD of music for viola and percussion written by fellow STL Symphony violist, Christian Woehr. Mattis spent 15 years on the artist faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and appeared in music festivals at Steamboat Springs and Ouray, Colorado, Adamant, Vermont, and at the Cactus Pear Festival in San Antonio, Texas. She has been Principal Viola for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis since 1977. Mattis has also been a Principal Viola for the New York String Seminar.

A sought-after clinician and educator, Mattis was a faculty member of the former St. Louis Conservatory and was on the artist-faculty roster of Washington University. Several of her former students are members of orchestras across the United States and abroad, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. Kathleen Mattis graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California where she studied with Eudice Shapiro, Milton Thomas, and Charles and Heidi Castleman. She currently performs on a viola made for her in 1985 by Max Frirsz.